Statements of young poeople from Oświęcim

Statements recorded in the Centre for Dialogue and Prayer in Oświęcim (September 10, 2005).

Bogdan

BOGDAN: We must make people aware of what was here, what happened here, what tragedy took place here during the Second World War - so that the fear against it would cause something to prevent such events.

A repetition is not possible, as nowadays there is a law, certainly completely different than that in the past. Also there are many organizations which certainly take care of that. But the threat remains and I think our awareness may prevent it.

Michał

MICHAŁ: The message that former inmates would like to pass on through us - young people who live in Oświęcim - is: with the knowledge of what was happening here for almost five years, future generations can't let something like this happen...


Łukasz

ŁUKASZ: Many people know that there was a camp in Auschwitz but they treat it as a "normal" thing. There were also other camps, in other countries for example in Vietnam or North Korea.

But when we read letters of Auschwitz's survivors we realize what suffering and pain were here, in this camp. We realize that it is one of the most terrible tragedies not only of the Second World War, but in the entire history of the world, such horryfing barbarism occurred there, such violence which should never take place.

We ask ourselves how God could has let such a tragedy happen, something so horrible - and the answer for this question is certainly difficult but we must wonder why this was so. Perhaps it was like the Biblical Sodom and Gomorra. There had to be such a shock, such a terrible thing, that people stop for a while in this rush, in this rat race - and wonder where the world is going and what is to be there in this world: violence, barbarism, evil - or peace and love.

Małgorzata

MAŁGORZATA: I, a person from Oświęcim, wouldn't see any analogy between these terrorist attacks and Auschwitz. Because Auschwitz did not happen by chance and not suddenly. The issue is to destroy evil at the very beginning. And now when we look at these assaults, on 9/11, this also did not happen by chance, this was a result of something. So we are still unable to destroy evil while it is small, we cannot destroy it before a tragedy happens.

Łukasz

ŁUKASZ: Regarding the terrorist attack on WTC on 9/11, it cannot be compared to the tragedy in Auschwitz, as these are two different situations.

In the attack on WTC we dealt with religious fanatics who hated the USA and although I don't mean to say that the USA also somehow hate the countries inhabited by the members of Islam, there is a certain trace of conflict there. In turn, Polish, Jewish, Gypsy, or Romanian nations imprisoned here in Auschwitz had not done any harm to the German nation! So here the aggression on the part of Germans was unjustified. This was pure barbarism.

This message was prepared to make people (not only from other countries but also people from Poland) aware what Auschwitz really was.

I was very much surprised with the great atmosphere during the World Youth Day. These were hundreds of thousands people from all over the world, and they showed we could have a great time, have fun in a wise way, without alcohol, cigarettes, drugs and other such things, but through prayer, through searching for Jesus, through singing and common meetings. It was really beautiful - and this gives us hope that in the future young people may change the world for better.


Memorial sites: Auschwitz | Bełżec | Gross Rosen | Chełmno | Majdanek | Sobibór | Stutthof | Treblinka
Learn more: Aktion Reinhard Camps | Remembering Catastrophe: Nazi Camps Today
Centrum Badań nad Zagładą Żydów / Polish Center for Holocaust Research | Committee on Conscience USHMM


The youth about the past and the future; Idea: Stefan Wilkanowicz; Elaboration: Maria Osterwa-Czekaj;
design: Marcin Gajownik, Marek Tobolewski; translation: Justyna Piątkowska-Osińska, Tomasz Ponikło (English), Katarzyna Kopeć (German), Andrzej Rynkar (French).
We used: photo service "Köln 2005" (Centrum Dialogu i Modlitwy w Oświęcimiu),
Helena Kubica "Nie wolno o nich zapomnieć" (Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum, Oświęcim 2005),
"Ludzie dobrej Woli" pod red. Henryka Świebockiego (Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum, Oświęcim 2005),
Leszek Stafiński's movies archive (Kraków).

Copyright © 2006 ZNAK Christian Culture Foundation